Life is Unexpected
by Hella-venger
Summary: Artemis never thought this would be how she came out to the Team as trans. But it's how it happened.


Notes: Hey, just wanted to try writing again. Hopefully it turns out ok.

I'm a big fan of writing fics about characters being trans. Mainly cause I'm a trans girl myself.

Also, I posted this fanfic on AO3 under my account, Hailing Torrent.

* * *

Whelp, time to get up.

Come on, Artemis. You know you gotta get up. Kaldur wants to have a team-training session before we have breakfast this morning.

Sighing in agreement with myself, (That sounded weirder than I thought it would) I rolled my body off the bed. Annnnnnnnnd I've fallen on the ground. Great job, Artemis(!)

I rummage through my clothes, looking for my costume if we're going to spar. There it is! Huh? It's folded on the nightstand. I don't remember doing that.

I'm shook out of wondering by the reminder on my phone going off, alerting me. I quickly grab and scan over it.

"8:00. ESTROGEN."

I don't really need a reminder for that. I haven't forgotten my tablets in the 3 years I've been taking it. I guess I just like to be sure.

For the first time, I noticed that my room is far cleaner than it usually is. My clothes aren't on the ground. There's no plastic water bottles that I keep forgetting to throw out dotting the room. Even my makeup is placed pretty cleanly on my desk.

Dinah must've sorted through it while I was sleeping. Sounds like something she'd do.

I enter the bathroom, heading towards my medicine cabinet. I take a look at my face in the mirror on the cabinet's door.

Ever since I started medically transitioning, I've felt a lot better about myself. I'm learning to love my body. But that still doesn't mean that there isn't parts I wish I could change. Sometimes, I think my face is too clunky, or my shoulders are too broad. I guess I just gotta take it day by day.

Swinging the cabinet open, I immediately see my prescription bottle. I just begin to think about the fact that Dinah probably cleaned through my bathroom too. I don't mind. Her and GA are the only two who know I'm trans. I like it that way.

That's not to say I'm never planning to come out to the rest of the team, but I prefer to do it on my own terms.

I quickly take two of the pills and leave to get dressed.

* * *

Not gonna lie. I thought there'd be more people up by now.

I stifle a coming yawn as I count the people in the kitchen.

There's M'gann, who's just cleaning the cabinets, a small apron draping over her waist. I never let her know, but I'm jealous of her. Her ability, I mean. She can change her form like it's nothing. How I wish it was that easy for me.

I also see Khaldor sitting at the table near the counter. His eyes seem to be running over some sort of sports magazine. Khaldor's been trying to learn some more about surface world culture. Between watching _Hello Megan_ with M'gann, Wally showing him the latest memes and watching action movies with Rob', he's becoming quite accommodated to Human culture.

Finally, I see Superboy helping M'gann with the cleaning. He seems to be organizing the pots and pans, placing each of them into their separate drawers.

"Mornin'" This time, I couldn't stifle the yawn that came. Usually when I take my estrogen this early in the morning, I head right back to bed for another 2 hours.

"Oh, good morning, Artemis." This is beamed at me with a smile for M'gann. How is she this perky in the morning? We went to bed at the same time. Is it a Martian thing, or what?

Eh, question for another time.

Superboy doesn't exactly react to me. Just kind of grunts in my direction.

Khaldor is about to reply to me, but is quickly interrupted.

An annoying interruption at that.

"Soooo, does anyone wanna explain why I have to get up this early?" I see Wally entering into the cave. I didn't even notice the announcement for him.

And Rob', who's standing beside him and seems a little bit more upbeat.

"We need to meet up regularly for training under our own supervision. While I appreciate Black Canary and Batman's teaching, we could learn something from each other." Khaldor doesn't even look up from his magazine as he says this.

"Maybe you do. Me, I know everything I need to know." A cocky grin crawls on Wally's face. I really, REALLY hated that stupid smirk.

"Quit complaining, Wally. We all know the real reason you don't want to is cause you know I'm just gonna embarrass you in front of our little squad." An equally cocky smirk appeared on Rob's face. Weirdly, I don't mind his as much.

Mainly because he's doing it to piss of Wally.

"Ok, now that everyone's here, we can begin." Standing from his chair, Khaldor stretches out his back. He nods towards the sparring ring, our que to follow.

We take our positions in the sparing area.

"Ok. Robin, you take KF. Superboy, you're against M'gann. Artemis, you're with me. We're doing the usual routine to start, quick locks and manoeuvres. Start!"

I instantly jumped towards Aqualad, grabbing his shoulders for a hold. I notice everyone else doing similar styles.

* * *

Well, that was exhausting.

We were only at it for about an hour and a half, but combine that with the grouchiness and, well, laziness of the lot of us, it took a bit out of the team.

Sitting around the table, M'gann floats over a few glasses of water to each of us. We all take it, giving thanks to our friend.

All except for Superboy. He doesn't even seem to be noticing the glass in front of him. Instead, he's just staring straight at the ground, as if thinking about something.

"Something on your mind, Big Guy?" This comes from Rob. Guess you don't study under the World's Greatest Detective and not learn to notice things.

I'll be honest. Superboy is blunt. Like a sledgehammer. I suppose it's to be expected, considering he's not even a year old. But when he has a question, he doesn't dance around it or really think it through. He just asks.

"What's Estrogen?"

Oh shit.

Him and M'gann were cleaning earlier. Superboy was the one who was in my room. He cleaned my bathroom. He saw my prescription.

"I was cleaning in Artemis's bathroom, and I saw a bottle with it written on it. I know what everything else in there was, except for that."

Shit Shit Shit SHIT!

I know that Superboy isn't trying to be invasive. And I also know I could easily say it was for something else.

But at that moment, I was just consumed with anxiety and fear.

And anger.

"What the fuck were you doing looking through my stuff!?" I'd say you could hear me outside the Cave.

"Artemis, it's ok-"

"No it's not!" I regret screaming down M'gann. She wasn't used to earth. She probably didn't know why this was such a big deal.

Khaldur seemed to be a bit taken aback, attempting to figure out what was happening.

Wally was slowly trying to back away from the group. Probably what I'd do in his position.

Rob isn't really reacting. He's just sitting there quietly. He may be the youngest, but if anyone could figure out what was happening, it was him.

"From now on, all of you stay the Fuck away from my room!" And with that, I stormed off, tears beginning to leave my eyes.

* * *

It must've been an hour before I started to think about what to do. I had just been laying on my bed, crying, cursing to myself.

Why did I blow up? I could just said it was for some random thing.

I throw one of my fists backwards, hitting softly off the surface of the bed.

Damn it. This was not how I wanted to do this. I planned to do it one by one. On my terms. When I was comfortable.

Sitting up, I grab a tissue from the side to wipe my tears.

Fuck, this really got out of hand.

But, it might work. It might not have been how I planned to Come Out, but I'll take the chance if I have it.

After Running to the bathroom to wash my face, I quickly turn and walk to the living room.

* * *

They're all just sitting around, watching the TV. Some repeat of That 70s Show. I don't know if they're actually watching it, or just trying to take their mind off of earlier.

M'gann is the first to notice me.

"Hi, Artemis." M'gann musters a small, welcoming smile. I say muster because it didn't have the usual lightness most of her smiles had. I really didn't feel good about yelling at her.

"Hey, guys." I can feel my voice nearly shaking as I say this. It's ok. You got this.

"Listen, about earlier…."

"Artemis." This comes from Rob, without his wisecracking tone. "You don't have to explain yourself."

I'm so glad he said that. It may not seem like a lot, but it helps ease my nerves.

"No, I-I wanna do this." Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

"Guys, I'm trans. A trans girl, I mean." Well, that didn't sound awkward or random at all(!)

Robin doesn't react. I'm pretty sure he realized during my moment earlier.

Wally seems a bit surprised. Not the best reaction, but I've had far worse from people.

Khaldur is surprisingly calm about it. He just nods slightly.

"Trans, is it? In Atlantis, the word we use is Acron. I know the surface world is not as accepting as Atlantis, so I understand why it's important to you." I think this was Khaldur's way of letting me know he was ok with it.

Predictably, Superboy shoots his hand up. Although, for him this was far more thought out that his usual approach to asking questions.

"Yes, Conner?" I feel a bit guilty about yelling at him earlier. He's still learning social stuff and all.

"What is trans?" In contrast to his earlier question, Conner seems a bit more nervous. Might have something to do with me exploding on him.

"Well, There's lot of forms of trans, but for me in particular. It means that when I was born, the doctors decided I was a boy based….based on my body." I try not to let the dysphoria get to me when I say this. "But, I'm a girl. I've always known I'm a girl, but a lot of the world thought I was a boy, and they were wrong."

"And what did the Estrogen have to do with it?" Back to being blunt, Conner.

"Some trans people like to take a medical route, to help us feel more like ourselves." I realize I'm basically giving trans education to someone who didn't even know what the word was this morning.

Taking a few moments, Conner seems to be in thought for a few seconds. Then he looks up at me.

"Ok." He also looks away again towards the corner of the room. "I'm sorry if it was wrong of me to look through your stuff."

"It's ok, Conner. Don't worry about it." I look towards M'gann.

"M'gann, is there anything you want to know?"

A bashful look comes over her face, as she rubs the back of her head.

"I actually was going to ask a few thing, but Konnor kinda beat me to it."

A little bit of laugh comes over the room. It was nice. It wasn't even that funny of a joke, but I guess we were all just happy that everything was ok.

"Hey, Artemis. We're trying to figure out what to watch on TV. What was the name of that horror movie we saw the ad for a few days ago?"

Hearing Rob's question, I quickly sit down.

"I think it was Ouji, or something."

"Oh, can we not watch horror. It's so boring." This groan comes from Wally, who has his legs over the coaches arm rest.

"You're so boring." Rob was really smart, but sometimes his insults were the most immature thing.

The two quickly devolved into an argument, while Khaldor began surfing through channels, and M'gann and Conner went to the kitchen for some snacks.

It may not have been how I planned to Come Out, but it could've been a lot worse.

* * *

So, what did you think? Please read and review. Thanks for reading.


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